Take My Breath Away

Evelyn was a teenager in the photo. And Matthew was short; he was not even ten years old.

Matthew turned on his laptop and raised his head, casting Sheffield an indifferent glance. "You seem to be very interested in my family, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Sheffield walked to the desk and gazed at Matthew without blinking. "After all, we will be family in the future."

Matthew's face turned dark after he heard those words, and he snorted. "Don't you think too highly of yourself? Don't forget that my sister will be engaged to Calvert after the New Year." He didn't know where Sheffield's confidence came from.

Sheffield didn't seem to get angry at his words. "So what? Even if she marries him, it won't be her will. She won't be happy with this marriage. They will divorce each other sooner or later." 'She will divorce him and then come back to me. Evelyn is always mine.' Even though the thought about Evelyn marrying someone else was hurtful to him, at least he would be able to get her back in the end.

In Sheffield's eyes, no matter how many times Evelyn got engaged or got married to others, as long as he wasn't the one she would be with, it wouldn't last long.

Matthew cast a disdainful glance at the man. "Are you so sure that my sister loves you?"

"Of course!" Sheffield sat at the desk. "We are truly in love with each other. By the way, if you have time, please give your father some pillow talk, will you? Calvert is really a bad guy. He is not good enough for your sister. Even if your father doesn't like me, he should find a good man for Eve."

'Pillow talk? Does he think I'm a woman?' A flush of anger flashed on Matthew's face at the thought. With a grim face, he pushed the laptop towards Sheffield. "It's the defense system of ZL Group. If you can crack it today, you can still celebrate the New Year with my family next year. If you fail..." He didn't finish the sentence because he knew Sheffield was smart enough to understand.

How could Sheffield not fulfill Matthew's expectations? He was well aware of the latter's feelings, but he had to hide his identity as Star Anise. He feigned fear and sat back, pointing at the laptop screen. "It's the defense system of ZL Group! Everyone knows that it was designed by Star Anise. Do you think I'm his match?"

Matthew had an indifferent expression when he gazed at Sheffield. "You know about Star Anise?"

"Of course I do." Sheffield purposefully made his voice sound like he was excited to talk about Star Anise. "After all, he is a celebrity in the world of hackers and honkers!" Sheffield turned his head to Matthew's laptop and started working.

"So you are also a hacker? Or a honker?"

Sheffield nodded without hesitation. He wouldn't want to deny it. "A hacker."

He didn't know whether Matthew believed his words or not, but a silence followed. Neither of the two men said another word.

Sheffield acted on the laptop for a few minutes, and the things he was doing were normal for a hacker. "As long as I work harder, I believe I will be able to crack ZL Group's defense system." He paused and furrowed his eyebrows, acting as if he found it hard to crack a code. "Today I'll find some loopholes and crack them! Otherwise, I won't have my meal."

Matthew completely ignored Sheffield's words and actions. Rather, he squinted his eyes and decided to sound Sheffield out. "I know that you're Star Anise. Why do you keep it from us?"

Sheffield tried to hold back his laughter. He tightened his fist and brought it over his lips to cough it all out. In short, his laughter came out in the form of a series of awkward coughs. He couldn't control his emotions at this point. 'Like father like son. He is more cunning than Carlos.' As soon as this thought flashed in Sheffield's mind, he chuckled again while shaking his head at what Matthew said. "I didn't expect you to think so highly of me. I haven't even cracked the defense system yet. It turns out that I'm such an excellent man in your eyes. I'm flattered."

He still shook his head at the thought of his identity being exposed to the public. 'Are you kidding me? If everyone got to know who I am, I would never live in peace ever.' His enemies would come to him at any time after his identity as Star Anise got exposed. He still wanted to spend the rest of his life with Evelyn, so he couldn't die so early.

When Matthew heard those words, he was rendered speechless. "Shut up!" He squeezed out two simple words through gritted teeth.

Sheffield's lips curved up slightly at Matthew's reply, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he continued to work on the laptop.

Of course, he knew about the flaws of the system he had designed. He just acted as if he was trying to find the loopholes. He would stop pretending when the right time came.

A few minutes later, Matthew stood up to answer a phone call. It took ten minutes for him to come back, and when he did, Sheffield pushed the laptop toward him and raised his chin, gesturing for him to look at the screen.

The screen was showing some loopholes of ZL Group's defense system. And if Matthew pressed the Enter key, the defense system would be broken. All the employees of the IT department of ZL Group would be forced to go to the offices and stay before their computers on New Year's Eve to solve the security issues.

Matthew was a highly skilled IT technician himself. One glance at the screen, and he knew what Sheffield meant.

He didn't have to press the Enter key to check if Sheffield had really found the loopholes. He could see it on the screen. It was the last step to break through the defense.

Matthew was calm on the surface when a hint of appreciation flashed in his eyes. But when he looked at the man who was sitting in the chair like a bum, his eyes were cold as ever. "You're not a normal hacker. Are you Star Anise?"

"You're right, but I'm not him." The corners of Sheffield's lips quirked up. "I am his disciple, and my code name is Eleven."

Eleven? Matthew frowned and racked his brain to think more about Eleven's information. It seemed there was indeed a hacker called Eleven.

A few years ago, Star Anise did say that he had a disciple named Eleven.

If Sheffield was indeed Eleven, it would be easier for him to break into the defense system of ZL Group. But Matthew was a cautious man and it was not easy to fool him. He felt that something was wrong.

Before he could figure it out, Sheffield approached him and put one arm on his shoulder. "You're my buddy now. We're supposed to take care of each other. From now on, when you come back to Y City, I'll look out for you no matter what happens."

Matthew stared at Sheffield as if the latter had developed a pair of horns. 'What? You must be kidding! Do I need a man like you to protect me?' he sneered inwardly. He could feel Sheffield's wrist on his shoulder that he longed to twist and break. He took a deep breath to restrain his impulse and demanded, "Get your hand off me!"

Sheffield was amused at how Matthew was eyeing his arm. He sighed, but he did not move his arm. "Actually, I'm also a neat freak like you. So you can rest assured that I'm clean. If you don't believe me, you can ask Eve or smell me. By the way, I had sprayed Eve's perfume over me today. I also have men's perfume. But you know, your sister and I didn't go home last night, so I didn't bring it with me."

Sheffield and Evelyn bought two bottles of perfume for couples. When she was using her perfume in the car earlier today, he approached her and kissed her on the cheek.

That was how her perfume was sprayed on his body.

His indifference made Matthew's face completely darken. "Sheffield Tang!"

Sheffield's amusement reached the seventh cloud at Matthew's reaction. "Are you angry?" He slowly withdrew his arm from his shoulder. "All right. All right. I'll get the dust off you." He patted Matthew's shoulder and brushed off the imaginary dust.

Matthew was so pissed off that he really wanted to throw one punch after another at Sheffield. No one had been able to stand so close to him, what to speak of putting a hand on his shoulder. Even his two best friends wouldn't dare to do this to him. Sheffield was the only one who had done this.

When they went downstairs, Matthew was still in a bad mood. To the onlookers, it looked like he had just eaten something bitter that made his face red in anger. But when they turned toward Sheffield, they were surprised to find him chuckling. If both men weren't straight, the onlookers would have guessed that Sheffield took advantage of Matthew.

Carlos wasn't any different. He looked at the twisted expression on Matthew's face. "What's wrong with you? He didn't take advantage of you, did he?"

The ladies around them burst out laughing.